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Month: April 2015

Delivery is revolutionizing the grocery industry. Instacart is at the forefront of that wave. Whole Foods Market is proud to be a select partner of the online grocery purchase and delivery solution provider.

These designs for a new customized WFM / Instacart Pilot Experience attempts to strike the balance that great e-commerce experiences do between simple, elegant brand-oriented design cues and user-centered design principles. When combined correctly, they create something that at once serves the needs of the brand while creating a system that is clear and seamless for our target audience and their goals. That was what I was going for here. I personally created these designs and have been working with the talented Instacart squad as we march towards fully realizing them through launch and iteration.

This is different than the Online Ordering experience that I have shown on here, as it is primarily focused on grocery and delivery ordering. It is designed to work in-concert with that Online Ordering experience from a design standpoint, however.

Shown Here: Full Desktop Design + Detail Views of the System, Tablet and Phone Versions As Well

I am a huge devotee of the Mid-Century Modern movement. It was a time when design thinking was king, spurring optimism and creativity across the world. New and progressive approaches were everywhere and perhaps at no other time more than that period, did we strive for that perfect balance of utility and artistic form.

Our house is almost entirely vintage MCM (we have a little 70’s and 80s thrown in for good measure) and every piece we have acquired inspires us every day. Speaking from experience, the process of “doing” a house MCM is BIG fun. AND… It all starts with inspiration. That’s the impetus behind this app: “MIDMODERNISM.” These designs show how that focus comes to life in a way that attempts to strike that same balance that the movement attempted to :: utility made beautiful.

The brand itself draws from the clean, modern geometry of the style, using type, placement and form to create the staccato conversation of pattern so prevalent at that time. Our colors and our custom glyphs here are inspired by the period as well, driving home elegance, richness and whimsey in turns. The system itself leverages simplicity to achieve solid user interaction and seamless flow. In all, a fun and inspiring project inspired by an amazing time in design.

One steadfast theme of my work at Whole Foods Market has been evolution. It is the process of listening to both user needs and the ever-changing the needs of the brand and adjusting the product to match that keeps things alive and very well targeted.

Since I had posted the initial development of the Values Matter campaign here, I thought I would post its evolution as well.

Very recently, I led the creative for the first phase of a revamp of the campaign in the digital space along side partners across the marketing organization. I am sharing the new landing experience here. This will be a part of a large rich media push, content effort and storytelling initiative and will change as the campaign grows and progresses.

The design strategy here offers an immersive and cinematic approach to the content. This underscores the broad brushstrokes of the campaign at large while communicating both the richness and tactility of food and the dappled sun and warmth of a sunny summer’s day. I personally created the overall style for this phase of the campaign and have been thrilled to work with talented internal design support for input and to bring it to life.

This is a very bespoke approach, tailored to specific action goals and KPIs as well as the stories we are telling. It will evolve and change as the campaign winds its way through the summer.

The Whole Foods Market App is a discovery engine. With almost 4000 recipes and the ability to search, filter and add them to a shopping list in addition to cooking guides and other rich content, it’s meant to be a tool to both enable that discovery as well as help users begin to actualize that discovery.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to lead a massive UX / UI redesign for that flagship app and am leading the process of reworking and augmenting it as we move forward. Whole Foods worked with the team at SapientNitro on the project in addition to our robust internal iOS team. I creative directed the entire project, both managing the agency creative relationship and our internal design resources while partnering with the tech resources leading the development process. As a part of the relaunch of the app, we created our first Android version as well.

The app itself is an immersive look at the recipes, guides and content within, leveraging rich photography, typography and bold color to draw users in. This was a big step forward for the 4 year old app. We are, however, already beginning a process of evolution of elements of this design system to both optimize, capitalize on any shortfalls and create further opportunities for engagement.

This evolution is part of an overarching cycle of rework and augmentation as the app marches forward. This is a key part of the project as it allows us to listen to user feedback and adjust to that feedback, making the app better in a cycle of constant deployment. I am leading the UX/ UI team making the design adjustments on all of those features and improvements moving forward. No project is perfect when launched, nor will it ever be, so this is a vitally important part of the process of continually meeting user need in more meaningful ways.

“The Warriors” has fascinated me since I saw it as a young teen in the years shortly after its release. The 1979 NYC gangland classic defined the sub genre of films dedicated to “chronicling” the noble, lawless urban decay at the center of cities like New York as the decade gave way to the 1980s. I loved all of it. Imaginative, iconic, indie and imminently quotable, the film continues to find new audiences.

I am playing tribute to the film with a series of 6 posters portraying 6 iconic “sets” from the film :: The Warriors, The Baseball Furies, The Lizzies, The Punks, The Hi-Hats and The Rogues.

Convenience is the name of the game in retail. Every day, the team I lead attempts to answer this question ::

“What have we enabled users to do in seamless ways today that they couldn’t yesterday?”

That sense of seamless enablement is the impetus behind this relaunch of the Whole Foods Market Online Ordering system. Clean, clear and responsive, this redesign offers users a frictionless experience from desktop to tablet to phone. This is a sterling example of the power of taking a mobile first approach. I led all user interface aspects of this initiative in a very hands-on way and had the pleasure of working with the talented team at XOXCO and our internal tech team as the project came to life.

The rework resulted in a 137% increase in conversion and a 173% increase in revenue YOY. That’s big news.

This is different than the Instacart experience that I have shown on here, as it is primarily focused on in-store ordering, items like catering and prepared foods. It is designed to work in-concert with that Instacart experience from a design standpoint, however.